Joshua 8:35 - Prayer Tents

The Conquest of Ai

8Now the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.H3068H559H3091H3372H2865H3947H5971H4421H6965H5927H5857H7200H5414H3027H4428H5857H5971H5892H776 2"And you shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it."H6213H5857H4428H6213H3405H4428H7998H929H962H7760H693H5892H310 3So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 300000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night.H3091H6965H5971H4421H5927H5857H3091H977H7970H505H1368H376H2428H7971H3915 4And he commanded them, saying, "See, you are going to ambush the city from behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.H6680H559H7200H693H5892H310H5892H7368H3966H7368H5892H3559 5"Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And it will come about when they come out to meet us as at the first, that we will flee before them.H5971H7126H5892H3318H7125H7223H5127H6440 6"And they will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, '[They] are fleeing before us as at the first.' So we will flee before them.H3318H310H5423H5892H559H5127H6440H7223H5127H6440 7"And you shall rise from [your] ambush and take possession of the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.H6965H693H3423H5892H3068H430H5414H3027 8"Then it will be when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do [it] according to the word of the LORD. See, I have commanded you."H8610H5892H3341H5892H784H1697H3068H6213H7200H6680 9So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.H3091H7971H3212H3993H3427H1008H5857H3220H5857H3091H3885H3915H8432H5971 10Now Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai.H3091H7925H1242H6485H5971H5927H2205H3478H6440H5971H5857 11Then all the people of war who [were] with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city, and camped on the north side of Ai. Now [there was] a valley between him and Ai.H5971H4421H5927H5066H935H5892H2583H6828H5857H1516H5857 12And he took about 50000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.H3947H2568H505H376H7760H693H1008H5857H3220H5857H5892 13So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley.H7760H5971H4264H6828H5892H6119H3220H5892H3091H3212H3915H8432H6010 14And it came about when the king of Ai saw [it,] that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that [there was] an ambush against him behind the city.H4428H5857H7200H4116H7925H582H5892H3318H7125H3478H4421H5971H4150H6440H6160H3045H693H310H5892 15And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.H3091H3478H5060H6440H5127H1870H4057 16And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.H5971H5857H5892H2199H7291H310H7291H310H3091H5423H5892 17So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they left the city unguarded and pursued Israel.H376H7604H5857H1008H3318H310H3478H5800H5892H6605H7291H3478 18Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand." So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.H3068H559H3091H5186H3591H3027H5857H5414H3027H3091H5186H3591H3027H5892 19And the [men in] ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it; and they quickly set the city on fire.H693H6965H4120H4725H7323H5186H3027H935H5892H3920H4116H3341H5892H784 20When the men of Ai turned back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers.H582H5857H6437H310H7200H6227H5892H5927H8064H3027H5127H2008H5971H5127H4057H2015H7291 21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the [men in] ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and slew the men of Ai.H3091H3478H7200H693H3920H5892H6227H5892H5927H7725H5221H582H5857 22And the others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were [trapped] in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they slew them until no one was left of those who survived or escaped.H428H3318H5892H7125H8432H3478H5221H5704H7604H8300H6412 23But they took alive the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.H4428H5857H8610H2416H7126H3091 24Now it came about when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.H3478H3615H2026H3427H5857H7704H4057H7291H5307H6310H2719H8552H3478H7725H5857H5221H6310H2719 25And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 120000— all the people of Ai.H5307H3117H376H802H8147H6240H505H582H5857 26For Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.H3091H7725H3027H7725H5186H3591H2763H3427H5857 27Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua.H929H7998H5892H3478H962H1697H3068H6680H3091 28So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation until this day.H3091H8313H5857H7760H8510H5769H8077H3117 29And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave command and they took his body down from the tree, and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over it a great heap of stones [that stands] to this day.H4428H5857H8518H6086H6256H6153H8121H935H3091H6680H3381H5038H3381H6086H7993H6607H8179H5892H6965H1419H1530H68H3117 30Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal,H3091H1129H4196H3068H430H3478H2022H5858 31just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, on which no man had wielded an iron [tool;] and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.H4872H5650H3068H6680H1121H3478H3789H5612H8451H4872H4196H8003H68H5130H1270H5927H5930H3068H2076H8002 32And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel.H3789H68H4932H8451H4872H3789H6440H1121H3478 33And all Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them [stood] in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had given command at first to bless the people of Israel.H3478H2205H7860H8199H5975H727H3548H3881H5375H727H1285H3068H1616H249H2677H413H4136H2022H1630H2677H4136H2022H5858H4872H5650H3068H6680H7223H1288H5971H3478 34Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law.H310H7121H1697H8451H1293H7045H3789H5612H8451 35There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.H1697H4872H6680H3091H7121H6951H3478H802H2945H1616H1980H7130